PB 12" Screen flickers!

macrumors newbie

i just received my new shiny PowerBook 12"RevC, but the euphoria soon faded away as I saw the screen flickering in an unsteady interval of some seconds. I think it can be best described by short flashes that make the screen a little brighter.
[edit] no, that was a wrong impression - the flashes make the screen darker, as if it gets, for a short time, not enough power - put it doesn't go off[/edit]

Do I have to fear that I need to send the book back or is this normal at the beginning?
I have to say that the book is yet very cold (although i wonder why, it's normal spring weather here, maybe TNT is using freezer containers to transport powerbooks... ) - I'll see if this behaviour changes once the book gained room-temperature but i am very pessimistic..

macrumors 6502a

i just received my new shiny PowerBook 12"RevC, but the euphoria soon faded away as I saw the screen flickering in an unsteady interval of some seconds. I think it can be best described by short flashes that make the screen a little brighter.
[edit] no, that was a wrong impression - the flashes make the screen darker, as if it gets, for a short time, not enough power - put it doesn't go off[/edit]

Do I have to fear that I need to send the book back or is this normal at the beginning?
I have to say that the book is yet very cold (although i wonder why, it's normal spring weather here, maybe TNT is using freezer containers to transport powerbooks... ) - I'll see if this behaviour changes once the book gained room-temperature but i am very pessimistic..

thread startermacrumors newbie

Doesn't it seem obvious that screen flicker on a brand new notebook would be a problem?

My Powerbook most certainly didn't do this out of the box. Ring up Apple, and send it back. Sorry for your troubles.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your answers!
I did use the book now for some hours and it seems it does no longer flicker at all anymore.
Maybe it does so only under certain circumstances..
I'm still not very happy that it _did_ happen, but as it seems everything is fine now - i'll keep a very sharp eye on it though.

macrumors 65816

I had a 15" PB that I had for a while earlier this year. It would flicker immediately after startup/wakeup, if it had been idle for a long period of time. This would last for a few minutes and then it would not do it again until it had been idle for a while again. It always did it, and never got it to stop. But that was one of many problems for that computer. I would call apple if I were you.

macrumors G3

I'm still not very happy that it _did_ happen, but as it seems everything is fine now - i'll keep a very sharp eye on it though.

Click to expand...

Does the flicker occur only when you first switch it on or does it occur after it's booted up?? It shouldn't flicker at all once booted... that's a hardware problem.

Speaking from personal experience (I've lost count of the screen problems I've had with PowerBooks) If I were you I'd ring Apple, reject it as a DOA and get them to send a replacement out, you won't get any hassle.

Otherwise you're just going to be waiting for the problem to reoccur, and that's going to ruin the brand new Mac experience.

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